Don't buy the spin: The WTO talks in Nairobi ended badly and India will pay a price India's Commerce Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, invited into a select group to negotiate the final text of the Nairobi agreement, let the rich countries have their way.

Please find contact information for civil society representatives in attendance at WTO MC10, working in coordination with Our World is Not For Sale (OWINFS) global network and the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC).

Indiaâs demand that the World Trade Organization (WTO) take steps, on a priority basis, to safeguard the interests of poor farmers as well as the food security programmes in developing countries has received support within the U.S.

Last week, 453 civil society groups including trade unions, farmers, environmentalists, public interest groups and development advocates from over 150 countries wrote an urgent letter to members of the WTO to âexpress extreme alarm about the current situation of the negotiations in the WTO.â This is the largest number of endorsers on a letter about the WTO in the last decade and is a signal of the dire situation

USAâs price suppression and market distortions in cotton is threatening Indian and African producers.

As we approach the World Trade Organization (WTO) ministerial on December 15-18 in Nairobi, India is leading a group of developing countries insisting that the development goals promised in Doha in 2001 be achieved. On the other hand, the US, European Union (EU) and Japan have called for a ârecalibrationâ of that agenda, one that leaves agriculture largely off the table. India is right to lead the fight for reforms in developed countriesâ agricultural policies.

Cotton should be at the centre of those reforms. A recent study suggests that US subsidies under the 2014 Farm Bill will continue to suppress global cotton prices. Recognising this threat, Africaâs so-called Cotton 4 (or C-4) â Benin, Burkina Faso, Mali, and Chad â tabled a proposal in October calling on the US and other WTO members to make good on the longstanding commitment to address the cotton issue.

The United States, the European Union, Australia, and Brazil on Tuesday (24 November) blocked a major deliverable concerning the special safeguard mechanism (SSM) for the developing countries at the World Trade Organization's tenth ministerial meeting in Nairobi beginning on December 15, several trade envoys told the SUNS.

The United States, the European Union, Australia, and other countries have nearly scuppered an outcome for the proposed permanent solution for public stockholding programs for food security purposes as demanded by 47 developing countries at the upcoming ministerial meeting of the World Trade Organization (WTO) in Nairobi next month, several trade envoys told the SUNS.

Prime Minister Narendra Modiâs call for an outcome on public stockholding programmes for food security at the World Trade Organizationâs (WTO) ministerial meeting next month in Nairobi has almost been spiked after the US, the European Union, Canada and Australia ruled out any change from the existing interim arrangement.

As the countdown for the tenth Ministerial Conference of the WTO to be held in Nairobi, Kenya through 15-18 December commences, Shalini Bhutani emphasises the need for a cautious deliberation on how trade rules affect key sectors and all stakeholders.

The United States and the Least Developed Countries (LDCs) at the World Trade Organization have reached agreement ad referendum on a pharmaceutical patent exemption for a duration of 17 years, according to trade diplomats. With this exemption, the worldâs poorest nations will not be obliged âto implement or applyâ or âto enforceâ patents as well as test data protection for pharmaceutical products until 1 January 2033.

The United States and Switzerland want the right to file complaints for loss of trade âbenefitsâ even against countries whose intellectual property rights laws are fully consistent with international agreements

The US has demanded âsafe harborâ protection for its controversial farm export credit programme from the disciplines underpinning the World Trade Organizationâs agreement on subsidies and countervailing measures despite denying such a flexibility to India and other developing countries for public stockholding programmes for food security last year.

The United Statesâ offer to least developed countries of a 10-year transition period to grant pharmaceutical patents is âunconscionable and indefensibleâ, according to six influential US non-governmental organisations (NGOs). In a letter dated 19 October to President Barack Obama, the NGOs conveyed this strong criticism in view of the public health and other developmental challenges facing least developed countries (LDCs).